As we continued walking the others were talking amongst themselves, while I was lost in thought.
Layla noticed, slowed down to walk next to me and asked, "Hey, are you ok?"
I was taken out of my thoughts by her question, "Hmm? Oh, yeah. I'm fine. I was just thinking."
"About what?"
"I'll tell you in the car."
"Ok."
Afterward I paid more attention to the conversations but was more withdrawn in my participation.
…
Once we made it to the parking lot we stood around and talked for another 10 minutes until we bid each other good bye and got into our cars.
When Layla and I got into the car we sat in a moment of silence as we watched the others start their cars and drive away.
Then Layla looked at me and said, "So? Penny for your thoughts?"
She could tell I was thinking about something and was bothered by it, but I don't think she could tell that I was more excited than upset.
I wonder if she is worried that she did something to upset me, or maybe overheard them in the restroom?
Either way, time to test the waters and start my plan.
I started, "I was just thinking about the car flipping idea."
"Still? I mean generally it is a good idea but to try and pull it off practically doesn't seem realistic."
"Yeah, I get it. The main problem is the actual resale of the car right?"
"Yeah, people are just not going to trust some random Joe Schmoe trying to sell a car that has been sitting around and rusting."
"Yeah. But, what if we create our own manufactured trust?"
"What do you mean?"
"Like a Metube channel. You could make videos of fixing the car up and then selling it. Then we would have all of the trust in the world because whoever wanted to buy the car could see exactly how well it was put together."
"I mean, yeah, that would work. But, you would still have to get it off the ground first. Plus not many people watch car restorations because they want to buy the car themselves. Some do, sure, but most are just watching the process."
"I know. Metube has a problem where everything needs to be bigger, better, flashier, than the next or there will be no views. But, the idea was never to trick these cars out. It was to buy a rust bucket for a few hundred bucks then fix it up for cheap and sell it for cheap. Kind of like a public good will product. If it takes off and you can get and make nicer cars then great. If not, at least you're doing something for the world."
"I mean… I guess, but the start-up cost…"
"Wouldn't be that much. Basically a warehouse to rent and the parts. Oh and a tripod to hold your phone to record. Here start the car, I'll look it up while we drive."
"Huh? Oh… ok."
I decided to streamroll this a bit and use some suggestive wording to rope her in with her being none the wiser.
As we pulled out of the parking lot I Foolgled, "Warehouses for rent near me."
I clicked on the first non sponsored link and the first result was exactly what I was looking for.
I said, "Wow, look at this, the very first result is exactly what we are looking for. 4 exterior dock doors, 2 drive in bays, they all have 20 foot clearance. It has a large showroom as well as some office space. It has a full kitchen for a breakroom, wow, even a full bathroom with a shower. Huh, would you look at that it is located between where we live, how fortuitous."
"Yep, and how much does it cost?"
"Well at 11,000 square feet at $13 a foot. Oof. That's kinda expensive."
"Yep. So how much?"
"$143,000."
"Holy! I knew it would be a lot, but not that much. Dang."
"Well that is for a year, but I bet I can negotiate it down because it needs some work and needs to be cleaned out. Plus they want a 5 year contract. Which will probably never happen, since you could build a new warehouse for less than a year's rent."
"But, that is still way too much money."
"Maybe. But… If I build a server… yeah… that might work."
"What?"
"Oh, well, you obviously know about how I have been using AI to manage my stocks, right?"
"Yeah?"
"Well that's not the only thing I'm using AI for. Another is to use AI to try and build, or rather manufacture better computers."
"Ok? So…"
"Well, I kind of have already made some improvements. Nothing really ground breaking, but improvements. I have been looking around for places to advance that business but, if I apply the idea of using AI to try and make better car parts… then the amount spent could be covered by the possible patents that are made."
"You want to use AI to make car parts!?" Layla asked like a cat that had its tail stepped on.
"While I say that, it's not like it would happen anytime soon, it would need tons of data to run simulations. Even then there would be tons of hand holding making prototypes, running actual tests, and so much more. The AI would mainly handle the building of the part less of the inventing. I would really just need someone to try a whole bunch of ideas to see what would happen and gather data."
"I see…" Layla seemed relieved by that.
"Yeah since AI can only do what has been done before. It needs a real person for innovation." I could only tell her what she wanted to hear hoping that she would be on board.
We sat in silence for a while until Layla finally said, "So, what do I really need to do?"
"Well get your tools together and wait for my call, because once you do you'll be spending all of your free time working on cars."
"I already do that."
"Well now you get to do it some more!"